Update: Four injured in McAdoo blaze

A woman and three other people, including a 7-year-old girl, were taken to trauma centers with injuries they suffered when fire broke out in their home across from the McAdoo Fire Company Inc. headquarters Saturday night.

Firefighters, who were cleaning up after their block party, discovered the fire and their quick action may have saved lives.

McAdoo Fire Company Assistant Fire Chief Robert Leshko said it was just before 11:30 p.m. when firefighters noticed smoke pouring from a brick home at 25 S. Kennedy Drive, almost directly across from their fire station.

Leshko said while firefighters ran to get their apparatus that was parked a short distance away, other firefighters ran to the building and managed to save four people that were inside.

Firefighters pulled Lorraine Searfoss, 45, from a front second-floor window and a short time later other firefighters took Madison Arner, 7, from the back of the home.

Leshko said Madison Arner was in cardiac arrest when taken from the home and revived by firefighters outside. She was then taken to Hazleton General Hospital from where she was flown to the Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest burn unit and admitted in critical condition.

On Sunday, Leshko said he received reports indicating that Arner had died. However, information received later from the Lehigh County Coroner Office said the girl remains in critical condition, according to Paul Hoffman, chief deputy coroner.

For more on the fire, see Monday's edition of the Standard-Speaker.

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